The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/tag/wildfires/page/2)
In this week’s Pagan Community Notes: Storms, fires, and wild weather in the U.S.A., attack on an Atlanta synagogue, ancient structures found in Saudi Arabia, and a cute little mammal rediscovered, and more!
CALIFORNIA – For a second time this year, massive and catastrophic fires are destroying parts of California. The Thomas fire, which is the biggest, is currently being called the “fifth-largest in the state’s history,” and it reportedly continues to force “new evacuations in towns as far north as Santa Barbara.” The state’s famous Santa Ana winds have only made the situation worse. The state boasts a large Pagan population from south to north. The last set of fires, which occurred in the fall, brought local Pagans and many distant friends together to perform water magic in order to help curb the damage and stop the flames. As columnist Crystal Blanton wrote, “Rain magic and other forms of weather related workings have a long history in many different cultures.
California was literally on fire this month, causing a ripple effect of destruction, devastation, and death. While there were multiple fires in Northern and Southern California, the fires in the Wine Country of Sonoma County are set to be the largest in the state’s history. Recent reports indicate that over 8,400 homes and buildings were destroyed, and an estimate of 42 lives were lost in the Northern California fires. News reports are currently stating that over 100,000 people have been displaced by the horror of the raging flames. The unimaginable fires started Oct.
Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire
— Robert Frost
At the time of writing, 22 different wildfires in Northern California have burned 217,566 acres, killed at least 40 people, and destroyed over 5,700 buildings, including entire neighborhoods in the city of Santa Rosa; an alarming departure from past wildfires, which have mostly affected rural areas. Over 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate and the smoke caused “the worst air quality ever recorded for smoke in many parts of the Bay Area.” It is common sense that California’s prolonged drought exacerbated many wildfires, but last winter’s pouring rains were no relief, for they too abetted the intensity of the current fires by encouraging the proliferation of annual grasses, which have already died and turned into a fuel source. The fires have also burned the primary wine and marijuana-producing region of California, a region indisputably ruled by the god Dionysos, blackening the skies and bloodying the sun with the ashes of grapevine and cannabis. But Frost’s poem and the current fires bring a different set of powers to mind as well.
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